City to craft Civic Stadium bid

Josephine Woolington

Thursday

Nov 28, 2013 at 12:01 AM

The financially struggling city of Eugene hasn’t thrown in the towel yet on its attempt to buy — and save — historic Civic Stadium.

During a Wednesday afternoon work session, city councilors voted 5-3 to direct the city manager to come up with a proposal by Tuesday to buy the old baseball stadium, using funds from a parks and open space bond measure approved by voters in 2006.

The city’s offer, however, will depend on whether a private group can come up with $5.5 million to renovate, operate and maintain the site within 60 days after Tuesday’s deadline to submit offers to the Eugene School District, which owns the 10.2-acre site between Willamette Street and Amazon Parkway near 20th Avenue.

The group also would have to submit a business plan for the stadium that would be subject to the council’s approval.

It’s unclear what group, if any, could raise that sum in such a short amount of time — though a member of Friends of Civic Stadium said the nonprofit group is prepared to try.

If no group can pay at least $5.5 million in the next two months to save the 75-year-old stadium, the city will withdraw its offer, Mayor Kitty Piercy said when she presented her motion to submit the conditional proposal.

“I think it’s fabulous,” Councilor George Brown said of Piercy’s motion, which came as a surprise to Brown and other councilors.

Over the past two months, Brown has urged the city to come up with a proposal to buy the stadium, despite the city’s projected annual budget gap of about $3 million that could result in cuts in city services next year.

After Brown successfully persuaded five councilors in September to move to explore options to acquire the site, the council deadlocked last month on moving forward with a proposal to buy the property. Piercy had threatened to break that tie by voting against developing a proposal for the school district.

Piercy said Wednesday that she has always wanted to preserve Civic Stadium and keep it in public hands, but has been skeptical whether the city could come up with a financially feasible offer. Using proceeds from the parks and open space bond — which cannot be used to maintain or operate any city services aside from parks — seemed responsible, she said.

Initially, councilors on Wednesday were deadlocked again on whether to move forward to create a proposal for the property. Piercy broke that tie in favor of putting forth a proposal.

The council’s vote came one day after the Eugene School Board declined to extend the deadline for potential bidders to submit a proposal. The extension would have given bidders until Jan. 14 to present an offer.

Piercy said she is disappointed that the school board didn’t extend the deadline, but is confident that if groups — such as the nonprofit Friends of Civic Stadium — want to renovate the site for amateur or professional soccer, they’ll find a way to raise $5.5 million.

On whether it will be possible for Friends of Civic Stadium to raise $5.5 million in two months, the group’s secretary, Jim Watson, said: “It will have to be.”

That fundraising target is far more than the group’s initial goal of raising $1 million to convince councilors that acquiring the stadium wouldn’t be a financial drain to the city. The Friends group has so far raised more than $200,000 from 70 individual donors since it began fundraising on Nov. 13, Watson said.

The $5.5 million, however, is “certainly more than would be necessary” to renovate, operate and maintain the stadium, Watson said. The Friends group estimates that it would need closer to $3 million to renovate the stadium and operate it. The group would then lease the stadium to sports groups and would receive revenue from the rental agreement, he said.

Piercy said the city could enter an agreement with several groups, if that’s what it takes to raise the necessary money.

For example, local attorney Art Johnson told the school board Tuesday night that he knows of two groups interested in buying the stadium. Those groups could conceivably pool their money with the Friends group to come up with $5.5 million.

Councilor Mike Clark, however, said the city has underestimated the cost it would take to get the stadium ready to host a sporting event, citing several estimates — including one by the school district — that found renovations costing anywhere from $10 million to $15 million.

“This is indeed an irresponsible risk to the city,” Clark said, adding that if the city acquired the property it would likely become a “never-ending money pit.”

The city joins at least two other contenders expected to make an offer on the property — the Eugene Family YMCA and Peter Powell, a Bellevue, Wash., developer for Fred Meyer grocery stores.

Those bidders have said their offers will total at least $3.7 million and $4.7 million, respectively.

The city did not publicly release how much it is prepared to offer the school district for the property.

The site is estimated to be worth $5.5 million, $7.6 million or $9.8 million, depending on how the property is zoned, according to an appraisal released by the school district last month.

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